BotGD - Just Another Evening
by The Holocron
Summary: An Au/Alteration fanfiction of the How to Train Your Dragon inspired Tumblr role play called Battle of the Grounded Dungeon. In this story, we see what I might have been like if Haddock did not have a family, but had instead gotten together with his bodyguard Stonegit.


Dear Reader: This short story is an AU/Alteration fanfiction of the Battle of the Grounded Dungeon [which is a Tumblr RPG based off of HTTYD]. In this short, Haddock's only family are the warriors that stand by his side and Stonegit, who happens to sleep by it.

Just Another Evening

King Haddock lay on his back, starring up at a thin moon beam that was crossing over his ceiling, heaving a quite sigh. Stonegit's head shifted from where it was resting on Haddock's chest and he blinked once. "You ok?" he murmured.

Haddock let the rest of the sigh escape him with a huff, and he rested his hand on top of Stonegit's, pushing it back down firmly, yet gently. "Relax I was just admiring a moon beam. And don't worry, it doesn't seem dangerous." He teased.

"Very funny," Stonegit grumbled, nestling his head back down and snuggling his arms around him. "You forget that I have to be slightly paranoid, I'm your bodyguard after all."

"Mmmm yeah, I nearly forgot," Haddock mused, letting his eyes close again.

"Yeah," Stonegit said, sitting up a little and looking down at him. "And it would be bloody hard to protect you if I'm tangled up in these sheets all the time."

Haddock rolled his eyes greatly, reaching up and pulling him back down again. "I'll take my chances," he said. "Now lay down will you?"

Stonegit grumbled as he shifted back in against his side. "Ever since you convinced me to stay here for the first time all my free time had to be spent making some serious modifications to my defense system."

As he spoke, Haddock reached over one hand and gently let it rest on his chest, letting his fingers rub it idly. "You can move quickly, you can fight, and you're going to be right here all evening. Remind me again how that isn't a good defense plan?"

Stonegit opened his mouth, searching for the words but found that he was having a hard time thinking. "It's just that…it would go so fast…and uh…you would,"

Haddock sighed and leaned in, kissing Stonegit lips gently and cupping his face with one hand. He broke the kiss and met his eyes. "Git…" he said. "Go to sleep." Stonegit blinked a few time, and then exhaled, going limp as he allowed himself to relax. Haddock huffed once, satisfied with the response, and wrapped his arms around him, settling back into the bed.

The two slept peacefully for some time, but then, Stonegit's eyes snapped opened when he heard the shift of a floor board. He closed his eyes again, inhaling slowly as he gripped a small, long object under the pillow. He heard the barely audible click as a second board was displaced, and he carefully moved Haddock's arm away from him, fixing his position on the bed. He rolled over silently, just in time to see a figure sitting at the edge of the hole in the floor, crossbow in hand. Stonegit urgently put a finger to his lips, shushing the intruder quietly. The intruder hesitated, knowing that if he shot Stonegit the sleeping King would be alerted. But why wasn't this lazy eyed boy raising the alarm? Stonegit quietly held up a hand, whispering nearly silently. "Please don't wake him up."

"Wasn't my intention," the assassin responded. "I'd rather not raise a ruckus either. But trust me boy, if you try anything I'll send a blot through your neck." He frowned. He had not been expecting the King to have company. "What are you? A man servant?"

Stonegit flushed, glancing back at Haddock briefly. "I'm the King's bodyguard…and…" he sniffed once, fingering the object under his pillow. "His lover…as it turns out."

"Well congratulations," he assassin sneered. "And I know you got a knife under that pillow. Same deal as before, keep it there or your gizzard gets a new piercing. Some bodyguard you are, sleeping in a bed instead of standing at a post."

"I assure you I can do my job just fine from here," Stonegit retorted, both of the men still very careful to keep quiet.

"Sure, sure you could have. Let's be real boy I could have killed the both of you by now."

"So why haven't you?" Stonegit asked. "Why have you been talking to me instead of escaping or getting the job done?"

For a moment the assassin looked nervous as he glanced behind Stonegit, and then met the boy's eyes again. "I think the real question is why have _you _been talking to me instead of raising the alarm?"

Stonegit's eyes suddenly became dark. "Because I don't want Haddock to be disturbed…and your partner is already dead." The man's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak again, but clicked the lever he had been holding under his pillow. There was a tiny hiss and a dart flew from the side of the bed, sticking in the man's side. He inhaled sharply.

Haddock, hearing the gasp, shifting in his sleep. "Stonegit?" he murmured.

Stonegit's eyes widened in a brief panic and he rolled over so he was half on top of the King, gently rubbing his shoulders and whispering in his ear. "It's ok, it's fine. I'm just going to get some water." Haddock blinked his heavy eyes, but then he nodded wearily, still mostly asleep, and let himself nod off. Stonegit sighed, relieved. He carefully eased himself out of the bed, and slid over to the assassin, who was still seated by the hole. The poison in the dart had left him petrified. Reaching forward, he carefully took away the assassin's crossbow, unloading it and gently setting it back down in the hole. The assassin's gaze followed his every move, his eyes wide and panicked. Stonegit drew a short, stone dagger. "It's a poison that causes a person to freeze almost instantly, I couldn't make it a deadly poison otherwise your falling corpse would have woken him." No sooner had he finished explaining, Stonegit reached forward, placed a hand on the man's back, and slid the dagger into his heart without a sound. He eased the body back into the floor, put the boards back, got some water, and lay back down in the bed.

The next morning, Haddock woke up first, seeing the warm morning sun pouring into his window. He stretched looking down at Stonegit who was still huddled against his side. He smiled fondly and brushed at a bit of the boy's thick brown hair, getting up carefully. He pulled on a shirt, tip toeing out of the room. He walked into the small kitchen and began pulling around some fruit and bread. "The boy nearly drives himself insane worrying about me throughout the night, the least I can do is make him breakfast," he said to himself, putting a kettle over the fire. Haddock made a nice, fresh pot of tea, and a tray of toasted bread slices with sweet cuts of fruit. Pouring a mug of the morning tea for himself and Stonegit, Haddock placed the items on a large platter and carried it into the bedroom, just in time to see Stonegit sitting up, and rubbing his eyes. "Good morning," he said, sitting beside him. "You're looking quite lovely."

Stonegit shook his head briefly, sniffing once and looking up at him. He couldn't help the smile that came to his face as he took the cup that was being offered to him. "Gee thanks, it's nice that you're a fan of the bed head."

Haddock laughed and leaned forward, kissing the side of his head. "Always have been," he teased. "Enjoy the breakfast, I'll get you a shirt," he said, standing up and walking towards the closest on the other side of the bed.

Stonegit hummed once, bringing a piece of bread to his lips and then jolted, spinning around. "No wait don't…!"

But it was too late, and Haddock opened the closet door. "Bloody Odin!" he yelled, reeling back and staring at the neatly strung up body inside.

"Oh Hel, there goes the beautiful morning," Stonegit grumbled, rolling his good eye.

"Stonegit!" Haddock said, turning around, his eyes wide. "What is this?! Who is that person?"

Stonegit rubbed the front of his head. "It's an assassin. He was hiding in your closest since yesterday afternoon, waiting for the evening so he could kill you in your sleep."

"Git!"

"What?"

"When something like this happens you stop him and sound the alarm, not hang him up in my closest like a coat!" Haddock said.

"He was there as back up. I also heard noises under your floor, there was a second one." Stonegit explained. "Their plan was to have the first one come out of the floor and kill you. If he was caught, killed, or interrupted, then the second one would come out as back up to make sure the job got done. If I had sounded the alarm the first assassin would have known the plan was blown and fled. I didn't want him coming back to kill another day. So I eliminated the one in the closest without anybody's knowledge and waited for the one in under the floor to show up."

Haddock starred at him, "I would have never thought of that." He said, shaking his head once.

"Mmm," Stonegit hummed, taking a sip of the tea. "That's just because our jobs are different."

Haddock once again shook his head, and then gave a passive shrug. "Well I'm sorry the other guy didn't show up."

Stonegit swallowed the bit of bread he had been chewing. "He did." He said simply. "I got him two."

Haddock's face fell. "What?"

"He popped out of the floor last night, and I got rid of him."

Haddock spread his arms. "How the hel did you kill him without me waking up?" he paused. "And what's with the noose in the closest that's not really your style?"

"Your room is booby trapped," Stonegit explained. "I told you my free time was really taken up with all these modifications."

"You rigged a noose trap in my closest?!"

"And poison darts all round your bed frame, yes." Stonegit answered. "There also magic seals painted on the ceiling in invisible ink and various trap doors in the kitchen."

"Fucking Thor Git you're going to get somebody killed with those!"

"That was the idea." Stonegit replied, quirking an inquisitive eyebrow.

"That's not what I meant, I mean…Ugh!" Haddock passed a quick circle, rubbing his face, turning to him again. "And why didn't you tell me once you killed the other assassin? What did you do with him?"

"Well for one thing you were asleep and you needed rest. I wasn't going to let something like this interrupt your evening. Secondly…I put him back in his hole. Don't worry I'm having him removed before he starts to stink."

Haddock starred at his young bodyguard, his mouth hanging open. He slowly walked over to him, taking either side of his face. "You…" he scoffed lightly. "Ridiculously amazing fool." He kissed his forehead. Haddock suddenly hesitated. "Stonegit…How many men have you killed for me?" he asked, suddenly concern coming to his eyes.

"So far…" Stonegit said, thinking. "Four."

For a second, Stonegit didn't meet his king's eyes. Every other time the subject of murder had come up Stonegit had been chased, beat, and judged. Nobody had ever listened to his side of the story, nobody cared. They just locked him away time and time again. But when Haddock lifted up his chin, it wasn't judgment in his eyes, but sadness. "But you're so young." He said quietly.

Stonegit slowly lowered his head, pressing it into Haddock's chest and hugging him tightly. "It's ok," he sighed. "I started early."


End file.
